1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an art of transmitting information from an information providing device to a terminal, and particularly, to an art of acquiring positional information from a mobile terminal and transmitting information that is related to the positional information of the mobile terminal and that is related to an activity of a user of the mobile terminal.
2. Description of the Background Art
A car navigation device is known that adds positional information to map information based on a current position of a mobile unit. Another system is known in which map information is stored into an information-center computer capable of wireless communication with a mobile terminal, instead of being stored on the car navigation device side, to receive a current position of the mobile terminal, and to transmit map information concerning the neighborhood area of the received current position. Still another system is known in which, in addition to map information, information of a facility is provided such as a restaurant in the neighborhood of the received current position.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-13961 discloses a mobile communication system related to such systems above. The disclosed mobile communication system includes a mobile terminal and an information-center computer. The mobile terminal includes a positional information detection circuit detecting positional information of itself, a positional information transmission circuit transmitting the positional information to the information-center computer, an upload data transmission circuit transmitting upload data to the information-center computer, and an information providing circuit providing the user with information from the information-center computer. The information-center computer includes a storage circuit storing information, a search circuit receiving the positional information from the mobile terminal and searching for information stored in the storage circuit, a storage control circuit storing the upload data into the storage circuit, and an information transmission circuit reading information retrieved by the search circuit and transmitting the read information to the mobile terminal.
The upload data transmission circuit transmits information related to the positional information, as upload data, to the information-center computer. The information providing circuit provides the user with information related to the positional information transmitted from the information-center computer. The storage circuit stores information about the area within a moving range of the mobile terminal. The search unit receives the positional information transmitted from the mobile terminal and searches for information related to the positional information stored in the storage circuit. The storage control circuit stores the information transmitted from the upload data transmission circuit included in the mobile terminal into the storage circuit. The information transmission circuit reads out the information related to the positional information retrieved by the search circuit, and transmits the information related to the positional information to the mobile terminal. Thus, the mobile terminal transmits the positional information of the terminal itself to the information-center computer, so that the user of the mobile terminal can be provided with the information stored in the storage circuit of the information-center computer in connection with the received positional information. Moreover, the mobile terminal transmits information related to the positional information through the upload data transmission circuit, so that the information stored in the information-center computer can be updated anytime. As a result, not only map information showing a current position of the mobile terminal, but also detailed information related to the positional information, such as facilities on the map (e.g. a telephone number and business hours of a facility) can be obtained.
The mobile communication system disclosed in the publication described above merely provides information related to positional information in response to reception of the positional information from the mobile terminal. The user who received the information service must determine for his/herself if he/she has time to go to a facility provided by the information, or if he/she is interested in the facility.